One Game at A Time: Carry On Up the Khyber
City Gents (H). Business Lunch, fully expensed by Sky
You go away for ten days, and everything turns upside down, in a kind of typical Argyle way.
Where to start…..well some consistency would be helpful, on the pitch at least. After another away win meaning Argyles long suffering travelling support are having a marginally better time of it than their just suffering home support, under fire Head Coach Cleverley finally shed his Tinker Tom ego and picked an unchanged side for the visit of Northampton.
In truth the win at Vale Park papered over a not especially great performance, but the first half against the Cobblers was better than of late and Argyle could and should have been in front by the break. There was still time for Bali to almost commit hara-kiri in the Argyle box with an air shot a 36 handicapper would have been ashamed of, but a vigilant assistant referee corrected the duff penalty decision. Had Argyle’s luck finally turned?
The second half was that now traditional dashing of hopes on the Home Park rocks. First Andy Carroll tribute band and long term Argyle nemesis Tom Eaves demonstrated the soft centre at the heart of Argyles lack of Quality Street to plant a looping header past a rooted Hazard.
Then Tolaj, literally Argyles only goal threat for the past couple of months flailed a frustrated arm as he was wrestled once again and our eagle-eyed assistant team, were on the spot to ensure the frustrated Swiss’s role was going to be at a temporary end as a red card was brandished. Whether the victim of the assault should have been on the pitch at all after a booking and a blatant foul worthy of a second card was irrelevant. The Cobblers stuck the boot in and ran out comfortable three nil winners.
Over the weekend, and prior to the Fans Forum, the club then acknowledged their failure to once again read the room with a lack of a tribute to legend Johnny Newman who dies the previous week. That tribute will now precede the Bradford City game. Whilst applauding the realisation they gad got it very wrong I can’t help feeling the timing of the Monday night forum meant the announcement was as much about drawing the sting from the frustrated audience on an area that almost every other club Newman played for or managed seemed to grasp was worthy of tribute. Contrasted as it was the instant reaction of West Ham to the death of their hero Billy Bonds, and on the back of feedback that the lack of a tribute was “club policy” CEO Paul Berne has some policy shredding to do when he finally does arrive in January.
All told not the build-up Chairman Simon Hallett wanted for his latest fans Forum on the Monday evening. Accompanied by Derek Adams and the aforementioned Berne, credit as ever goes to an owner who fronts up and who is a genuine fan. In a hostile beginning the fans lambasted the mistakes and lack of success a top six budget has delivered. If there are small mercies “hatgate” from a couple of forums back has become a much smaller problem in the supporter rear view mirror.
What did become clear by the end were a number of strands. The first of these is Tom Cleverley is going nowhere, at least in the short term. He will be supported by Adams and the board both in terms of what he needs day to day, and in the January window, where there are funds for two players and some trading may take place to release additional funds, dependent on who is available.
Much time was once again given over to the Foulston Park argument as a few hardcore fans seem unable to grasp that the funds committed to this project, a legacy development for the city part funded by grants, and which if successful could provide a healthy player trading stream of funds, were never and would never have been available for squad investment.
As for finances, the grim reality is that costs all through the League pyramid are rising and Argyle face a “perilous” financial situation. Not Singed James Park perilous, but one that requires additional shareholder support, this time in the form of loans at a beneficial rate rather than equity. It has always been true that Simon has never suggested he could fund a Premier League style operation, hence the ongoing search for investment, with an investment bank appointed to assist the search. Simon also accepted that if the “right person” (sit down Delphon) wanted to purchase the club, he would not rule out an outright sale. His preferred route for a minority investor to come on board and gradually take over remains, but the new realities of football funding means that Argyle will be cutting their cloth accordingly.
The player trading model was analysed in some depth this week by Not the Top 20 podcast, and in the wake of the real financial crisis up the road, which has led to The Six Toes having to get loans from their Trust owners and also negotiate early payment of transfer fees to be able to reach the end of the season, the verdict was there is limited evidence for clubs at the lowest end of the League consistently being able to “trade up” financially. Peterborough and Exeter have managed it to a degree but the length of time over which such funds appear means they are not the transformative windfalls fans presume.
Another fact that emerged was that in League 2, the trend is towards older more experienced squads, with fewer sides giving substantial minutes to their young guns who might form the basis of a trading model. Crewe are the expected outlier here. And so in any ways the decision to back a “smarter player trading model” supported by the Foulston Park investment has a relatively limited evidence bank of late. Argyle, scarred by the Al Hajj/Baidoo experience will be cautious of dipping into the European market again quickly, and it seems that our aversion to loan players may well be reversed come January.
Still, we are still in the Vertu Cup, after the now resting Tolaj maintaining his vice like grip on the Top Scorer/Player of the Year/Will he stay rumours with an added time outrageous backheeled goal to secure a one nil win against a largely second-string Orient side, concentrating on their FA Cup game last night. Lost four nil at Salford. Plans eh?
Which brings us the Bradford City, complete with a double ex-player threat in Tyreik Wright and Antoni Sarcevic, the Manchester Messi nipping over the Pennines to ex Bantam boss Adams club in one of his non-Morecambe sojourns that lasted a few months before Mark Hughes was brought in to deliver a promotion, which never happened. So at least we know how they will score one of their goals.
One nil Sarcevic goal from a Wright assist. Three to one at Betfair.
The Bantams, or as traditionalists would call them, The City Gents, share with Argyle the uniqueness of their colours, theirs being Claret and Amber stripes which were a revision of the hoops worn by their Rugby League predecessors Manningham RLFC. Blood and mustard is one definition of them, although equally so is rhubarb and custard.
Probably the best remembered result at Home Park is not the six-nil end of season drubbing to a virtually relegated side Argyle inflicted on them in 1978, but the earlier attempt to play the match when the referee, allegedly suffering frostbite and with his watch frozen abandoned the game with City one nil up through David McNiven and Argyle looking toothless and unlikely to recover the deficit. The blizzard conditions meant a sub three thousand hardcore, including a good few Bantams and it is still the coldest I have ever been at a match, and I went to ice Station Zebra for the January Oldham FA Cup tie in 1976.
The balmy Bank Holiday romp which sealed Citys demise was a huge contrast, especially as a home defeat in January could have reversed the clubs fortunes very easily.
City arrive in poor form, barring a close win over the Six Toes, so we all know what that means.
Argyle have to find a solution to scoring whilst Tolaj indulges in mince pies and fondu for three games. The return of Pleggy and Edwards in midweek, and the long awaited “Ralls Royce” debut may give Argyle a more solid base to build from.
It is noses to the grindstone for the squad. Home form has been a mainstay of recent seasons, and we need to reverse that horrible statistic that going behind equals defeat. Eleven losses where that has happened. It cannot be twelve!
COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
City Gents (H). Business Lunch, fully expensed by Sky
You go away for ten days, and everything turns upside down, in a kind of typical Argyle way.
Where to start…..well some consistency would be helpful, on the pitch at least. After another away win meaning Argyles long suffering travelling support are having a marginally better time of it than their just suffering home support, under fire Head Coach Cleverley finally shed his Tinker Tom ego and picked an unchanged side for the visit of Northampton.
In truth the win at Vale Park papered over a not especially great performance, but the first half against the Cobblers was better than of late and Argyle could and should have been in front by the break. There was still time for Bali to almost commit hara-kiri in the Argyle box with an air shot a 36 handicapper would have been ashamed of, but a vigilant assistant referee corrected the duff penalty decision. Had Argyle’s luck finally turned?
The second half was that now traditional dashing of hopes on the Home Park rocks. First Andy Carroll tribute band and long term Argyle nemesis Tom Eaves demonstrated the soft centre at the heart of Argyles lack of Quality Street to plant a looping header past a rooted Hazard.
Then Tolaj, literally Argyles only goal threat for the past couple of months flailed a frustrated arm as he was wrestled once again and our eagle-eyed assistant team, were on the spot to ensure the frustrated Swiss’s role was going to be at a temporary end as a red card was brandished. Whether the victim of the assault should have been on the pitch at all after a booking and a blatant foul worthy of a second card was irrelevant. The Cobblers stuck the boot in and ran out comfortable three nil winners.
Over the weekend, and prior to the Fans Forum, the club then acknowledged their failure to once again read the room with a lack of a tribute to legend Johnny Newman who dies the previous week. That tribute will now precede the Bradford City game. Whilst applauding the realisation they gad got it very wrong I can’t help feeling the timing of the Monday night forum meant the announcement was as much about drawing the sting from the frustrated audience on an area that almost every other club Newman played for or managed seemed to grasp was worthy of tribute. Contrasted as it was the instant reaction of West Ham to the death of their hero Billy Bonds, and on the back of feedback that the lack of a tribute was “club policy” CEO Paul Berne has some policy shredding to do when he finally does arrive in January.
All told not the build-up Chairman Simon Hallett wanted for his latest fans Forum on the Monday evening. Accompanied by Derek Adams and the aforementioned Berne, credit as ever goes to an owner who fronts up and who is a genuine fan. In a hostile beginning the fans lambasted the mistakes and lack of success a top six budget has delivered. If there are small mercies “hatgate” from a couple of forums back has become a much smaller problem in the supporter rear view mirror.
What did become clear by the end were a number of strands. The first of these is Tom Cleverley is going nowhere, at least in the short term. He will be supported by Adams and the board both in terms of what he needs day to day, and in the January window, where there are funds for two players and some trading may take place to release additional funds, dependent on who is available.
Much time was once again given over to the Foulston Park argument as a few hardcore fans seem unable to grasp that the funds committed to this project, a legacy development for the city part funded by grants, and which if successful could provide a healthy player trading stream of funds, were never and would never have been available for squad investment.
As for finances, the grim reality is that costs all through the League pyramid are rising and Argyle face a “perilous” financial situation. Not Singed James Park perilous, but one that requires additional shareholder support, this time in the form of loans at a beneficial rate rather than equity. It has always been true that Simon has never suggested he could fund a Premier League style operation, hence the ongoing search for investment, with an investment bank appointed to assist the search. Simon also accepted that if the “right person” (sit down Delphon) wanted to purchase the club, he would not rule out an outright sale. His preferred route for a minority investor to come on board and gradually take over remains, but the new realities of football funding means that Argyle will be cutting their cloth accordingly.
The player trading model was analysed in some depth this week by Not the Top 20 podcast, and in the wake of the real financial crisis up the road, which has led to The Six Toes having to get loans from their Trust owners and also negotiate early payment of transfer fees to be able to reach the end of the season, the verdict was there is limited evidence for clubs at the lowest end of the League consistently being able to “trade up” financially. Peterborough and Exeter have managed it to a degree but the length of time over which such funds appear means they are not the transformative windfalls fans presume.
Another fact that emerged was that in League 2, the trend is towards older more experienced squads, with fewer sides giving substantial minutes to their young guns who might form the basis of a trading model. Crewe are the expected outlier here. And so in any ways the decision to back a “smarter player trading model” supported by the Foulston Park investment has a relatively limited evidence bank of late. Argyle, scarred by the Al Hajj/Baidoo experience will be cautious of dipping into the European market again quickly, and it seems that our aversion to loan players may well be reversed come January.
Still, we are still in the Vertu Cup, after the now resting Tolaj maintaining his vice like grip on the Top Scorer/Player of the Year/Will he stay rumours with an added time outrageous backheeled goal to secure a one nil win against a largely second-string Orient side, concentrating on their FA Cup game last night. Lost four nil at Salford. Plans eh?
Which brings us the Bradford City, complete with a double ex-player threat in Tyreik Wright and Antoni Sarcevic, the Manchester Messi nipping over the Pennines to ex Bantam boss Adams club in one of his non-Morecambe sojourns that lasted a few months before Mark Hughes was brought in to deliver a promotion, which never happened. So at least we know how they will score one of their goals.
One nil Sarcevic goal from a Wright assist. Three to one at Betfair.
The Bantams, or as traditionalists would call them, The City Gents, share with Argyle the uniqueness of their colours, theirs being Claret and Amber stripes which were a revision of the hoops worn by their Rugby League predecessors Manningham RLFC. Blood and mustard is one definition of them, although equally so is rhubarb and custard.
Probably the best remembered result at Home Park is not the six-nil end of season drubbing to a virtually relegated side Argyle inflicted on them in 1978, but the earlier attempt to play the match when the referee, allegedly suffering frostbite and with his watch frozen abandoned the game with City one nil up through David McNiven and Argyle looking toothless and unlikely to recover the deficit. The blizzard conditions meant a sub three thousand hardcore, including a good few Bantams and it is still the coldest I have ever been at a match, and I went to ice Station Zebra for the January Oldham FA Cup tie in 1976.
The balmy Bank Holiday romp which sealed Citys demise was a huge contrast, especially as a home defeat in January could have reversed the clubs fortunes very easily.
City arrive in poor form, barring a close win over the Six Toes, so we all know what that means.
Argyle have to find a solution to scoring whilst Tolaj indulges in mince pies and fondu for three games. The return of Pleggy and Edwards in midweek, and the long awaited “Ralls Royce” debut may give Argyle a more solid base to build from.
It is noses to the grindstone for the squad. Home form has been a mainstay of recent seasons, and we need to reverse that horrible statistic that going behind equals defeat. Eleven losses where that has happened. It cannot be twelve!
COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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